We’ve all heard it and we all know it - WE ARE WHAT WE EAT. But why should we care and what does it really mean? After last month’s lasting lifestyle blog post on protein, I have come to realise that it is important for the readers – parents and dancers alike – to first understand why we should care so much about nutrition and be mindful of what and how much we put into our bodies. “You are what you eat” and “what you put in is what you get out” are some of the most overused clichés by health professionals to explain the simplicity behind weight loss, body composition and understanding nutrition. Just as with any cliché, these have become so well-known because of how true they are. Now of course this doesn’t mean that if you eat an apple you’ll morph into a large green fruit – it simply means that if your diet is high in bad fats, simple sugars and low in fruits, vegetables and lean proteins, your body composition will reflect that. Body composition is a term used to describe the percentages of fat, bone, water and muscle in a person’s body. This is important because there is a wide misconception that weight is the most representative measure of nutrition status – however this is not true as muscle tissue takes up less space in our body than fat tissue, therefore the combination of a person’s weight and their composition is a true reflection of their nutrition status. The image above clearly depicts how muscle is denser than fat and therefore how much we weigh does not explain what ratio of muscle to fat we have but rather the collective weight thereof.
Now I am sure some of you are wondering why you should be concerned about the ratio of fat to muscle you or your child has. Copious amounts of research has clearly shown the benefits of building lean muscle mass and how critical it is for good health and longevity. Here are some reasons why:
2 Lean muscle mass helps fight disease When we get sick our body’s nutritional demands change. In order to recover, your body requires a lot of protein. In such amounts, in fact, that your diet alone cannot provide the amount of protein required to defend against illness and will therefore gain it from your lean body mass. An extreme example of this would be in burn victims where the need for protein is incredibly high due to the needs to rebuild and repair the skin. The demand is so high in such a case that the body needs even more protein than needed during fasting, which is when muscle breakdown occurs as a source for protein in the body. The same conclusion was drawn in studies done on cancer survivors, where in those patients whose overall body protein decreased due to cancer and cancer therapy, the rate of reoccurrence of cancer increased. In both these scenarios the ability to survive these conditions ultimately came down to how much lean body mass each patient had to begin with, and as such how much their bodies were able to sacrifice as a result of this increased demand for protein. In a nutshell, if you have sufficient lean body mass, your body will fight off infection easier because it will have enough protein reserves to meet the demands of the immune system. 3 Lean muscle mass promotes strong, healthy bones Our body’s constantly reabsorb and replace bone tissue on a regular basis. Osteoporosis results when new bone creation doesn't keep up with old bone removal. Greater muscle mass is a consistent predictor of better bone health. Studies have shown that muscle contraction creates a force on the bone stimulating healthy bone remodelling, and that a positive correlation between muscle size and bone density and strength exists. Therefore maintaining a healthy lean body mass allows your bones to stay healthy. The above three points are ample motivation to consume a diet that meets our nutritional requirements thereby supplying the body with the right building blocks necessary to create a desirable body composition. I am sure a lot of you are thinking that because you dance and do other forms of exercise that your lean body mass is maintained through exercise mostly. However, this is untrue as the major contributor to our body composition is what we eat and not how much exercise and training we do. This brings me to my final but vital take home message – there is no way to out train a bad diet. What we eat contributes to our body composition a total of 80% while exercise can only contribute up to 20%. In order to build a strong house the right bricks, concrete, cement and steel need to be used and the same applies to our body. It takes roughly over 1000 burpees to burn off the energy that a slice of cheesecake supplies. That doesn’t mean that we may never indulge. It just means that if we give our bodies too much energy, empty sugars and fats on a frequent basis we will never be able to maintain this vital lean body mass. We need to consume the right building blocks to build a strong body. This may be why you might be working so hard at building your strength in class and not seeing results. All the push ups and crunches in the world cannot build muscle without the right materials and as such why a diet rich in fruit, vegetables, lean protein, fibre and healthy fats is always so well promoted. In conclusion, the power of nutrition and healthy eating is not to be underestimated. You are in control of the food choices you make for yourself, your kids and your family – from now on let us all try to think twice about what, how much and why we consume what we do. Let us give our bodies what they need to be healthy and strong!
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AuthorDanielle Gemeliaris has been dancing for half her life and has always been passionate about food, nutrition and the science behind them. The knowledge she gained through her studies, as a dancer and her experience as a health and wellness coach through Herbalife, has made her uniquely qualified to help dancers better understand nutrition and the role it plays in their lives. She hopes to offer the readers of this blog the opportunity to gain a basic working knowledge of nutrition, the role it plays for dancers and learn how to make better more informed food choices in the future. Archives
April 2019
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